Smart Company: Can you build a great company on a four-day work week? How to do more in fewer hours

Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year winner, Kester Black founder Anna Ross. Source: Supplied.

Head of workplace thinktank Reventure Lindsay McMillan says these kind of staff-inclusive plans can work, but only in cases where the engagement is genuine.

“This is all largely being driven by emerging generations that are saying, ‘my life is not just my work, it’s all my other interests’,” he says.

However, the challenge for businesses with a “startup culture” is the demands of the job might not be in line with a shorter work week or irregular hours.

“The counter point is companies are responding to the calls for flexibility as the best they can, but the overarching imperative is the job still needs to get done,” McMillan says.

This can result in the agreed upon system being betrayed, by either the employer, who piles on work when staff are supposed to be off the clock, or the worker, who can’t resist checking in even when they’re going over their allocated hours.